Selected quad for the lemma: doctrine_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
doctrine_n	church_n	teach_v	teacher_n	2,504	5	9.1605	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57149	The pastoral office opened in a visitation-sermon preached at Ipsvvich October 10, 1662. / by Edward, Lord Bishop of Norwich.	Reynolds, Edward, 1599-1676.	1663 (1663)	Wing R1269; ESTC R20427	17,158	64

with their doctrine they build and with their lives they destroy The Minister who will winne his people must not only doctorem virtutis se praebere sed ducem as Lactantius ut si praecipientem sequi nolint sequantur antecedentem The salt which is it self unsavory will hardly season other things I conclude this point with that wholsom passage of Hierom ad Nepotianum Let not saith he thy works shame thy doctrine lest they who hear thee in the Church tacitly answer Why doest thou not thy self what thou teachest others He is too delicate a teacher who perswadeth others to fast with a full belly A Robber may accuse Covetousness Sacerdotis Christi os mens manusque concordent a Minister of Christ should have his tongue and his heart and his hand agree I shall conclude all with Two words of Exhortation one to my Reverend Brethren in the Clergy and the other to the people To my Brethren That they would with all their might set about this most necessary work of feeding the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made them Overseers therby testifie their love unto Christ who by that Love doth adjure us to feed his sheep and lambs John 21. 15. 16 17. If we would not be an Anathema Maranatha for not loving of Christ we must do that which he by so strong an argument as the Love of him doth injoyn Is it possible for a man to love the father and to starve the children Is it possible to love the Lord and to neglect his doubled and redoubled command Is it possible to love God and to hate our brethren Or do we not hate our brethren when we betray their souls to perdition O let us lay to heart that most solemn and tremendous charge of the Apostle I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom preach the word be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine 2 Tim. 4. 1 2. Let us consider the dreadfull Accompt which at that fiery Tribunal of this Great Judge will be required of us Heb. 13. 17. the woe which we incurr if we neglect it 1 Cor. 9. 16. and the horrid guilt of the blood of souls which thereby we contract Ezeck 3. 17 18 20 their blood will I require at thy hand Let us consider the unvaluable preciousness of the souls committed to our charge of more worth then all the world beside Mat. 16. 26. insomuch that Heathen men have said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is the property of a Reasonable soul saith Antoninus the Heathen Emperour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to preferre nothing before it self O what a doleful thing will it be to have the everlasting perdition of such precious souls to lie upon our betraying of them Consider the Inestimable price wherwith they were purchased even the Blood of God Acts 20 28. and how fearfull a thing it will be for the Blood of Christ to cry out against us for destroying those souls which that blood did purchase Consider the continual Dangers these precious souls are exposed to the vigilancy of a cunning a powerfull a malicious adversary who goeth about seeking to devour them 1 Pet. 5. 8 the baits snares examples and entanglements of an evil world the swarms of Innumerable inward lusts which warr against the soul. O how vigilant should we be to fore warn arm them against the assault of so great dangers Lastly consider we the weight and greatnesse of that Crown of Righteousness and glory which the Chief Shepherd reserveth for all those who willingly and with a ready mind feed the flock of God They who turn many to Righteousness shall shine as Stars for ever and ever 1 Pet. 5. 4. Dan. 12. 3. What a Glorious Testimony will it be before the throne of Christ at the last day when so many souls shall stand forth and say This was the hand which snatched us out of the fire This tongue was to us a tree of life his Reproofs and convictions awakened us his Exhortations perswaded us his Consolations revived us his wisdom counsel'd us his example guided us unto this Glory Some are apt to charge Clergymen with ambitious pursuance of dignities and preferments Behold here a preferment worthy the climbing after a dignity worthy to be contended for an holy an Apostolical Ambition as St. Pauls expression importeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 15. 20. which is as much as Ambitioso conatu praedicare Evangeliū preaching the Gospel where it had not before been heard was the Apostles greatest honor which ambitiously he did aspi●e unto To the People 1. We exhort them to pray for their Ministers since they have a Service upon them which without divine Grace none are sufficient for that God would by his special assistance enable them to discharge so great a trust God commands it we beseech it our weakness wants it your souls require it the more you pray for your Minister the more you will profit by him You help to edifie your selves you help him to study and pray and preach for you while you pray for him 2 To take heed that the labour of your Ministers for your souls be not by your carelesseness all in vain Do not with our Sermons which cost us so hard labour as David did with the water of the well of Bethleem spill them on the ground and let them cry from thence like the blood of Abel against you So long as he keeps to his Commission and delivers the Counsel of God you cannot despise the work of your Minister but you do therewithall despise the blood of your Saviour If your souls be dear in their eyes should they be vile in your own Will you by your wickedness turn the prayers of your Pastors into curses their Sermons into a favour of death and their tears into the blood of your own souls Shall they begg mercy for you and will you reject it Shall they tender Grace unto you and will you resist it Shall they open for you the door of Life will you shut it against your selves Shall Christ by them beseech you and will you by your Impenitency refuse him Is it not a Reasonable Request though you will not love your Ministers yet not to Hate nor destroy your selves Must he Teach and you not Learn Must he open his lips and you shut your ears are Sermons preached to be praised onely and not obeyed Must he Reprove Sin in you and will you Reprove God in him Shall he take up the weapons of God to withstand sinne and will you take up the weapons of lust to withstand God! Is it good to kick against the pricks Will Gods word be impunè despised Can his Law be put to flight where it doth not perswade can it not curse Do we provoke the Lord to jealousie are we stronger then he Shall the Minister in the name of God forewarn us of the wrath to come and shall we belye the Lord and say It is not he Shall we blesse where God curseth and promise peace where God proclameth warre Shall we sell our selves to sin and make a Covenant with Hell and death as if we could sin securely and choose whither we would perish or no Will not the Lord make us know at the last whose word shall stand His or Ours O that the Love of Christ might constrain us and his Goodness lead us unto Repentance that when Christ doth beseech us we would be perswaded not to deny him Did Satan dye for us Did the world or the flesh ever redeem us were they scourged or mocked or crucified to save us O that Christ should be perswaded to dye for us and we should give him his blood back again and choose rather to dye our selves Consider what I say and the Lord give you understanding in all things FINIS Fuller Miscellan l. 6. c. 17 Quodammodo ante diem Judicii Judicant Hieron Ep. ad Heliodorum Serm. 15. in Cantic

Christ the nourishing of men in the words of faith the speaking a word in season to the weary to shew forth the Lords death till he come These and such like great and weighty workes the Apostle calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 4. 12. So long as these works remain to be done the ministery whereby they are to be done must remain likewise But it may be Objected others may promote these Ends as well as Ministers all Beleevers are commanded to Comfort Support Edifie one another 1 Thess. 5. 11. 14. Jud. v. 20. therefore no need of such an Office for the doing of them We answer Although every private Christian in his place and station ought to minister grace to the Hearers to have his speeches seasoned with Salt and fitted to the use of edifying yet these great Works are not done with the same authority efficacy certainty or order by a private hand as by publick Officers 1 Not with the same Authority A Learned Lawyer may resolve a mans Case as truly as a Judge but when he hath a Sentence declared by the Judge this doth more assure and quiet him because it is a Sentence not only of truth but of authority Ministers speak and exhort and rebuke with Authority Tit. 2. 15. 2 Not with the same Efficacy for the Lord hath made them Able Ministers 2 Cor. 3. 6. furnished them with power for Edification 2 Cor. 13. 10. anannexed a special promise of Blessing unto their service Matth. 28. 20. the Gospel ministred by them is not in word only but in power 1 Thess. 1. 5. not declarative only but operative they being therein workers together with God 1 Cor. 3. 9. 2 Cor. 6. 1. 3 Not with the same Certainty for How can it be expected that the Cases and Conditions of particular Consciences should be so well looked after by private Men who have Callings of their own to divert them as by those whose whole work it is to oversee the Souls committed to their Charge to whom they may in every case of difficulty resort for Counsel Or how can I expect ordinarily as full Satisfaction from a private Brother as from one whose duty it is to give himself wholly to these things whose Constant Businesse it is to give attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine to meditate on them to take heed unto them to continue in them that his profiting may appear to all 1 Tim. 4. 13. 16. 4 Not with the same Order God is in all his works much more in his Church a God of Order 1 Cor. 14. 33. If the Apostles themselves found it difficult to attend the Word of God and Tables Acts 6. 2. It cannot but be much more difficult for private Brethren to attend their own domestical callings and the publick concernments of the Church of God If a great Apostle said Who is sufficient for these things 2 Cor 3. 16. shall we judge private persons fit enough for them If in the Body God hath set several Members for several uses shall we think so weighty difficult and important a service as publishing the glad tydings of Salvation should be intrusted at large in every hand and no peculiar Officers set apart for the dispensing of it 4. We may inferre this Necessity from the Titles given by God unto these his Officers they are called Angels Rev. 1 20. Ambassadors entrusted with the ministery of Reconciliation 2 Cor. 5. 20 Stewards of the mysteries of God 1 Cor. 4. 1 2. Watchmen and Overseers of the flock Ezek. 3. 17. Acts 20. 28 Shepherds 1 Pet. 5. 3. Teachers distinguished from the people taught Gal. 6. 6. Preachers sent to publish peace Rom. 10. 14. Builders Planters Husbandmen Scribes instructed for the kingdom of God All which Metaphorical expressions import Services of absolute Necessity in States and families There are mutual and reciprocal Duties injoyned by God upon them and the people they to watch over the flock and these to love honour esteem and encourage them If they be not necessary Officers in the Church why should there lie upon them so severe a Charge why should there be due unto them so great a respect 5 They whom the Apostles took Order to be provided for the service of the Church are necessary Officers thereof for had they been superfluous they would not have burdened the Church with them But the Apostles took special Order for the succession of Ministers in the Church they Ordained Elders themselves Acts 14. 23. they directed Timothy and Titus to do so too 2 Tim. 2. 2. Tit. 1. 5. they call upon them to attend their service Col. 4. 17. 1 Pet. 5. 1 3. they call upon others to obey and encourage them Heb. 13. 17. Gal. 6. 6. Now certainly they would not have taken all this Care nor put the Church to so much duty and charge if the Office were not necessary to the Good and Interest of the Church Adde hereunto the uninterrupted prescription of all ages for not to mention the Heathen Nations where we find persons separated for divine worship in Egypt Gen. 47. 22. in Palestine 1 Sam. 6. 2. in Lycaonia Acts 14. 13. Such were the Chaldeans in Babylon the Magi amongst the Persians the Brachmanni amongst the Indians the Druidae amongst the Gaules the Pontifices Augures Flamines and others amongst the Romans and to keep to the Church of God we read in the beginning of Enoch a Prophet Noah a Preacher Abraham a Prophet Melchisedeck a Priest of the order of Priests and Levites in Israel before whom the first-born of the chief of the Families did bear that Honor for we read of Priests before the Levitical Order was instituted Exod. 19. 22. After that the Evangelical Ministry began in John continued in the Twelve Disciples and Seventy Elders held on in a constant Succession Christ and his Apostles appointed it and never repealed their own order If Jephte his prescription of 300 years possession was a good plea Judges 11. 26. much more the Churches of 1600. And now dear Brethren since our office is of so great necessity to the Church of God it greatly concerneth us to be duly therewith affected with all fear and trembling to discharge so important duties for the administration whereof this function hath been divinely instituted By the Holiness and Exemplariness of our Lives by the Evidence authority and purity of our Doctrine to keep our selves above the Contempt of men not to suffer any to despise us to magnifie our office and to bear up that double Honour which the Lord hath awarded unto those that Labour in the Word and Doctrine That in all things shewing our selves patterns of good works In our Doctrine shewing incorruptnesse gravity sincerity sound speech which cannot be condemned men that are against us may be ashamed having no Evil thing to say of us And this leadeth to the Second thing proposed the Consideration of the Duties wherein the discharge of this Pastoral office doth stand The