Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	bring_v	good_a	treasure_n	13,062	5	10.6433	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61666	Poimnē phylakion, The pastors charge and the peoples duty a sermon (for the most part) preached at the Assembly of ministers at Exon, June 7, 1693 / by Samuel Stoddon.	Stoddon, Samuel.	1694 (1694)	Wing S5714; ESTC R645	61,189	172

their conditions in the World Though all that looks like partiality be not so Prudence directing and that with warrant from Scripture to make a difference and not to use the same Measures with one as with another yet the selfish Spirit of Envy Censoriousness and Ignorance that is in the World is always ready to take offence where there is none given It concerns us therefore that with holy watchfulness and unbyassed resolution abandoning all base Respects and private Interests we so comport our selves in all cases and towards all persons as that our hearts may have no cause to reproach us so long as we live 2. Experimentally and Practically Thou that teachest another teachest thou not thy self Our Sermons in their most pressing and practical Applications should be first and especially Preacht to our own hearts that from the heart they may warmly reach the hearts of our Hearers Like good Nurses we should first taste and chew the Meats that we feed our Children with 'T is shameful and dreadful for one that is called a Minister of Christ to be able to speak of Spiritual things only by hear-say or by Books Every Scribe which is instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man that is an housholder which bringeth forth out of his Treasure things new and old Matth. 13.52 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the good Treasure or Treasury of the heart as cap. 12.35 A Jewel in the head and Poison in the heart is worse than a Toad in God's Eye Turpe est doctori c. The Ministers of Christ must be Ensamples to the Flock 1 Pet. 5.3 And wherein In Word in Conversation in Charity in Spirit in Faith in Purity 1 Tim. 4.12 Their Lives must teach as well as their Lips They must Lead as well as give the Word of Command that they may be able to say Be ye followers of us as we are also of Christ 3. Prudently The imprudent management of a Trust is one way of betraying it Those that live in a Subtil and Serpentine Age had need to be wise as Serpents Who then is a faithful and wise Servant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 24.45 Where these Qualifications are well met they make the happiest conjunction in the Heavens of the Church A Man may be learned and yet not prudent witty and yet not wise honest and yet not discreet good Scholars and yet no good Pilots zealous but not according to knowledge 'T is pity that Christian Prudence should be abused that so noble and generous a Virtue should be enslav'd and degenerate into Vice or that which is so eminently useful and absolutely necessary should get an ill name But tho' it do indeed too often deserve to be so censured yet it is apparent enough that those that have the least share of it are the most forward and the most unreasonable in their uncharitable Censures 'T is as natural and common for the weak who are worst able and have least reason to Judge as it is for the strong to Despise It concerns us then to be very wary that we steer aright between the two Extreams in this case Let our Prudence be founded in an holy Integrity and exercised with due regard to the Rules of Charity and then we need not value the Censures of Men nor fear any just Censures of Conscience 4. Diligently An Office of great Trust and Importance requires great diligence Where there are many Enemies there must be the more watching No Office in the World is of like importance to this Are Princes God's Vicegerents upon Earth the Representatives and Upholders of his Authority amongst Men It is but in Temporalibus circa Sacra The Faithful Ministers of Christ are his Ambassadors represent his Person and execute his Office in the concerns of an higher nature Better there were neither Princes nor People nor Sun nor Moon nor Stars nor Visible Heavens nor Earth than that there should be no Gospel Preacht to fallen Man no way of Salvation opened by and thro' a Saviour and no Means discovered of escaping the Miseries and obtaining the Happiness of that Eternal State in the next Life Better no Temporal Kingdom of Men than no Spiritual Kingdom of Christ in the World Nor is there any other Office or Interest in the World that hath such and so many Enemies That Spirit of Malignity which was breathed from Hell thro' that crooked Serpent in Paradise hath leavened the whole Mass of Mankind and is still working in the Children of Disobedience The Dragon and his Angels are engaged in this War Enemies that never slumber nor sleep that never tire nor desert The Earth is full and the Air is full yea not only the Heathen World but the Church it self is full of these Enemies And more ways they have to make their Assaults and to prosecute their Destructive Counsels visibly and invisibly by force and by fraud than it is easie to enumerate or to discover And alas what are we in opposition to such an Enemy but as Israel before the Syrians like two little Flocks of Kids but the Syrians filled the Countrey 1 King 20.27 How many ways might I easily enlarge on the greatness of this Importance But I will not pretend to instruct my Instructers Where the Enemies are mighty and many and vigilant the strength or stratagems to oppose them small the time short the consequence everlasting and the loss irrepairable there is need of Diligence 5. Couragiously The Ministry is a Warfare a Service of hardships and hazards Courage becomes a Souldier much more an Officer The Coward is not far from a Traitor They are commonly principl'd alike and there is but the odds of a Temptation between the one and the other Courage is the Life of a Souldier and one of the surest Pledges of Victory When God sent forth his Servant Joshua and gave him a Commission to lead his People over Jordan to their promised Possession though he had assured him of his special Presence with him yet knowing what is in the heart of the best of Men he saw it needful to inculcate this Charge on him no less than three times in one short Speech Josh 1.6 Be strong and of a good Courage Only be thou strong and very couragious Vers 7. Have not I commanded thee Be strong and of a good Courage be not afraid Vers 9. This may serve to caution us both of giving way to our own fears and of presuming on our own strength Bold Peter was as easily overcome as one of a more dastardly spirit could have been My Dear Brethren I know I need not read you a Lecture of Christians Courage You have seen the high and terrible hand wherewith our God hath led us these thirty years thro' many Temptations and Tryals of Affliction that have befallen us in this Wilderness We will not spit on God's Rod now nor aggravate our past Sufferings to the reproach of the guiltiest of Instruments but will here