Selected quad for the lemma: knowledge_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
knowledge_n	diligence_n	patience_n	temperance_n	1,924	5	11.3631	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69777	The intercourses of divine love betwixt Christ and his Church, or, The particular believing soul metaphorically expressed by Solomon in the first chapter of the Canticles, or song of songs : opened and applied in several sermons, upon that whole chapter : in which the excellencies of Christ, the yernings of his gospels towards believers, under various circumstances, the workings of their hearts towards, and in, communion with him, with many other gospel propositions of great import to souls, are handles / by John Collinges ...	Collinges, John, 1623-1690.	1683 (1683)	Wing C5324; ESTC R16693	839,627	984

Rocks of Pearl or ten thousand Rivers of Oil. But possibly some may say This is to plead my own merit I answer no for consider who it is that hath wrought in thy heart this value and esteem Is it not God Did flesh and blood reveal any such thing unto thee thou dost not then plead thy own merit thou only pleadest with God from what he hath already wrought and begun in thee 2. It is but the pleading of the promise which God hath made to them that love him and keep his Commandments 3. Neither dost thou plead thy esteem and value for the loves of Christ as meritorious as thinking that thy prizing the loves of Christ meriteth the further manifestations of them to thy Soul thou only pleadest it as a gracious habit wrought in thy Soul by which God hath fulfilled in thy Soul the condition of the promise thou only beggest of God that he who hath wrought in thy Soul that condition to which he hath annexed his promise would now fulfil also that promise to thy Soul which is annexed to that condition Thus I have finished the discourses I designed upon the first Petition of the Spouse as pressed by her first Argument Let him kiss me with the kisses of his Mouth For thy Loves are better than Wine Sermon XIII Canticles 1. 3. Because of the savour of thy good Ointments Thy name is as an Ointment poured forth therefore do the Virgins love thee I Proceed to the next Proposition which I at first observed from these words which I then largely opened Christ hath good Ointments which cast a savour my meaning is according to my former explication of the words That the Lord Jesus Christ is filled with the graces of the blessed Spirit which in themselves are as good Ointments and whose excellency is discerned by every true Believer by every Soul that is espoused to the Lord Jesus Christ to use the Apostles phrase I have espoused you to one Husband For a further discourse upon this Proposition let me first shew you 1. What I mean by Christs Grace and when I say he is full of the Graces of the holy Spirit 2. In what respects these graces are like to good Ointments 3. What particular graces of the Spirit are thus like to good Ointments 4. Whence it is that they are discerned and more effectually discerned by a gracious heart than another We read in the Psalmist that Christ was anointed mith the Oil of gladness above his fellows Heb. 1. 3. That he was anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power Acts 10. 38. That phrase in the Epistle to the Hebrews borrowed out of Psal 45. as I shewed you is excellently interpreted by John God gave not the Spirit unto him by measure Joh. 3. 34. The Grace of God was said to be upon him Luk. 2. 40. and he is said to be full of Grace and Truth Joh. 1. 14. Grace in Scripture as it relateth unto God is usually taken in one of these two senses 1. For the favour and free love of God by which a Person is accepted of God and so Grace is in St. Pauls Epistles to the Romans and Galatians and in his other Epistles opposed to works thus we are said to be justified by Grace saved by Grace In this sense it is also in Scripture applied to Creatures Esther obtained Grace that is favour in the sight of the King Esther 2. 17. and so in many other Texts Or 2dly it is taken For some holy and virtuous qualities and dispositions by which our Persons being first accepted in Christ we are acceptable unto God Thus it is said Joh. 1. 16. Of his fulness we have all received Grace for Grace thus Love is called a Grace 2 Cor. 8. 6. and in this sense the Apostle telleth the Corinthians God is able to make all Grace to abound to them 2 Cor. 8. 9. In this sense we are commanded to grow in Grace that is in holy virtuous dispositions or habits 2 Pet. 3. 18. It is expounded by 2 Pet. 1. 5. Add to your 〈◊〉 virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly-kindness and to brotherly-kindness charity The Grace of Christ is taken in a double sense 1. Subjectively For that free love and favour which is subjected in Christ and being in him as its Fountain floweth from him to cur Souls In this sense Christ is said to be sail of Grace and truth full of love free love towards his Peoples Souls and truly in this sense Grace comes by Jesus Christ for out of him God loveth no Soul In this sense the Apostle wisheth to the Romans Grace and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ Take Grace in this sense Christ is the Subject of it and the medium by whom it floweth from the Eternal Father to the Children of men he himself was from Eternity beloved of God and that both necessarily and freely being his Fathers Son begotten from Eternity the Father loved him delighted in him and indeed in this sense Christ may be said to have been the object of Grace but he was not anointed with this in time he had it from before all times only as to the Grace of Vnion the humane Nature until Christ assumed it was not beloved of God Christ assuming it it became the object of this Grace 2. But secondly the Grace of Christ is also taken objectively for that Grace which was poured out on Christ as Mediator and this is either 1. The Grace of Vnion which is the free love of God assuming the humane nature into a personal union with the Divine Nature in which thing God put a great deal of dignity upon and shewed a great deal of love unto our Nature 2. The grace of Sanctification by which I understand not the same which the Children of God receive upon Regeneration when of unholy they are made holy of impure they are made pure of proud they are made humble c. But those holy dispositions and qualifications which were found in Christ considered as the Son of Man by vertue of the union of the Divine Nature with the Humane Nature and his anointing with the Holy Ghost not given by measure unto him by which he was not only acceptable to his Father as Mediator but he is also exceeding lovely to his Saints So that when I say Christ hath good Ointments abundance of Grace I understand 1. Abundance of free love which dwelt in him as God over all blessed for ever to be dispensed out according to the particular exigencies of all his Peoples Souls 2. Many gracious dispositions which eminently dwelling in the God-Head from all Eternity were also by the Spirit poured out upon the Humane Nature in his Incarnation These are here called by a Metaphor Ointments and good Ointments 1. Because by the communication of these from the Divine

vertue to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to our temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to our brotherly kindness charity for if these things be in us and abound they will make us that we shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ I may add If these things be in us and abound our gracious Lord will be still adding to us making for us Borders of Gold and Studs of Silver I have now finished my Discourse upon this Text and all I have to say upon the return which this blessed Lover makes to his Spouse's Petitions It now comes to her turn to speak which she doth in the next words While the King sitteth at his Table my Spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof But of these words hereafter Sermon LI. Cant. 1. 12. While the King sitteth at his Table my Spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof IN the close of my last Discourse I told you I had finished what I intended to speak upon Christ's Answer to the Petitions of his Spouse We are now to attend to her Reply to him which is contained in v. 12 13 14. While the King sitteth at his Table my Spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof A bundle of Myrrh is my Beloved unto me he shall lie all night betwixt my Breasts My Beloved is unto me as a cluster of Camphire in the Vineyards of Engedi I begin with the first of these Let us first inquire into the sense of the words Concerning the Grammatical sense there is little difference amongst Interpreters We read it While the King some read it So long as the King sitteth at his Table The sense is the same and the Hebrew particle signifieth both In the next word which we translate the King there is something extraordinary the Hebr. is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are two praefixes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the word which alone signifieth The King I find Interpreters taking little or no notice of them but I am willing to allow as few redundancies in holy Writ as may be I find the same prefix Psal 146. 5. There it is prefixed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God Ar. Mont. translateth it The God of whom Others Because the God of Jacob is his help If we may be allowed to interpret it so here it runs thus whiles and because the King sitteth at his Table and learns us that our Spikenards smell dependeth upon Christ's presence with us The King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is demonstrative or emphatical I should judge it so here As much as That King Christ is a King above all Kings he is that King The King of Kings the most noble the most excellent King The Spouse in these three verses giveth her Beloved two Names she calls him King in this verse her Beloved twice v. 13 14. Christ's familiarity with the Souls which he loveth and the freedom and boldness which he alloweth them with himself ought not to breed in them low and mean thoughts of him He is a King and that King whiles he is the poor Soul 's Beloved Sitteth at his Table The Dutch and French translate it at his Round Table Arias Montanus in circuitu suo in his Round The LXX Interpreters who are followed by the Syriack the Vulgar Lat. and Tremellius in his Lying down That we may the better judge which is the rightest we must know the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth he hath compassed about Thence comes the Noun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a circuit a compassing about and that is the word here used and except in this Text I can find it but four times in Scripture 1 King 6. 29. He carved all the walls of the House round about 2 King 23. 5. The places round about Job 37. 12. It is turned round about by his Counsels Psal 140. 9. Those that compass me about So as the most literal Translation is While the King is in his Round whiles the King is round about But by those that are Criticks in the Hebrew Language it is observed that it is a word which signifieth the form of their sitting or rather lying down to eat meat for so was the fashion of those Countries The use of Tables and Stools was not then known but they were wont to sit or lie down leaning upon their Elbows and so to eat their meat Samuel 1 Sam. 16. 11. speaking of their sitting down to eat saith We will not sit down until he come that is David's Jesse's youngest Son In the Hebrew it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we will not round it Their meat was set on the ground and their manner in eating was to lie down round about their meat and so eat leaning on their Elbows with their hand raising their head from the ground The word only denotes to us their fashion of sitting or lying in a round figure when they did eat as we now sit about Tables Hence our Translation is good enough to express the sense While the King sitteth at his Table and the Dutch and French yet a little better at his round Table And the Translation of those who translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accubitu recubitu circuitu is also proper because those words signifie the posture in which they did eat in those Countries But there 's no foundation for their Translation who understand it of a lying in Bed it doubtless signifies While the King sitteth or lyeth at meat It followeth My Spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof The word translated Spikenard is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence comes the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lat. Nardus and our Spikenard In holy Writ it signifieth two things 1. A Plant Cant. 4. 13. 14. The Plants are an Orchard of Pomegrantes with pleasant fruits Camphire with Spikenard Spikenard and Saffron Calamus and Cinnamon with all trees of Frankincense c. 2. An Ointment made in a great part at least of that herb and plant and made liquid that it might be poured out Mary used it to anoint the feet of Jesus John 12. 3. And the Woman Mar. 14. 3. The Ointment is probably meant in this place It may easily be gathered from those two Texts in the Gospel which mention it that in those Countries it was a piece of their entertainment of their friends to bring sweet Oil and to anoint their friends with it Thence Christ checked Simon Luke 7. v. 46. Mine head with Oyl thou didst not anoint but this woman hath anointed my feet with Ointment This expression plainly alludeth to that usage I shall not trouble you with the various fancies of Naturalists or their various stories about this herb or Ointment My Spikenard gives it smell Smells you know are of two sorts either more grateful or more ingrateful which we call stenches The Jewish

grace are made to the exercises of grace Christ will be alwaies giving to those who are alwaies working out their Salvation with fear and trembling exercising themselves to Godliness These exercises are those sacred means in the use and not without the use of which he hath promised the influences of further grace Men mistake the promises of further grace if they apprehend them made to any who do not their duty as to the fulfilling of them when God had made those large promises of which you read Ezek. 36. He concludeth v. 37. Thus faith the Lord God I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them I will do it faith God but yet I will be inquired of to do it for them And for that promise Matth. 13. 12. Whosoever hath to him it shall be given and he shall have more abundance though by the foregoing verse where our Saviour giveth a reason why he soake to his disciples more plainly then to others Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to them it is not given It seems to be a promise of further grace to those to whom the first grace is given Yet in Matth. 25. 29. where the same promise is repeated and annexed to the parable of the talents it is plainly to be understood of those who have and use and improve what they have so as take those two Texts together they are a promise indeed of further grace to be given but to such as make a just improvement of what grace God hath first bestowed upon them 2. Secondly Our exercises of Godliness are indeed the wearing of these Jewels God gives men and women grace for their uses exercise is the use of the habit and the end for which the Lord giveth it What man will be continually buying clothes and Ornaments for his Wife who when she hath them will not wear them They are no Ornaments if they do not adorn us how shall they adorn us in the sight of the World which cannot look into our hearts unless we use and wear them How can we wear and exercise our grace but by works of piety towards God and goodness towards men I will add yet one thing more 3. It is but ingenuity in us when our Lord is never weary of giving out to us never satisfied never thinking that he hath done enough for us to be thinking we have not done enough nor can ever do enough for him when we hear Christ saying to us I will make them borders of Gold and Ornaments of Silver Should not we be saying We will take some new steps in the ways of God do some further acts of obedience then we have yet done forget what is behind and press on to what is before unto the price of the high calling Shall my beloved never think me fine enough Adorned enough And shall I ever think my self holy and Spiritual enough Serviceable enough to him in my generation Shall not I be ever trying some new ways to advance Christ in the World in my family in my own Soul Christ asks his disciples what do you do more then others Matth. 5. You receive more but what do you do more Every good Christian should ask himself these two questions 1. What do I more then others I have more mercy then others what do I more than they It is a shame for a Christian to do no more than a Publican a poor wretch that never tasted how good the Lord is yea it is a shame for him to do no more than he who hath not received the measures of grace which he hath received The 2d Question I would have him propound to himself is What do I do more than I was wont to do Wherein do I go on from strength to strength Wherein do I exceed my self Christ is preparing new measures of grace for giving out new measures of grace to me What new affections have I for Jesus Christ What new performances do I do for him The second thing in which I told you Holiness lay was in mortification of lusts and vitious habits in eschewing evil c. Is our Lord making and preparing new Ornaments for Believers How should they be afraid to grieve and dishonour him This Notion affords a double Argument whereby to press this second part of Holiness 1. From Ingenuity It is no way ingenous and becoming Christians to be pulling Jewels as it were out of Christ's Crown while he is adding Jewels to our Crown to be spoiling Christ of his Honour and Glory while he is consulting our honour and satisfaction O therefore grieve not his holy Spirit 2. There will by it arise a disadvantage to your Immortal Souls What Husband will still be bringing new Ornaments to a froward and disobedient Wife that taketh no care to please him Duty may oblige him to see that she shall not want necessaries but he will certainly cut her short of superfluities God in this as I have shewed you deals after the manner of men God's Cove nant his Truth and Faithfulness to that will oblige him notwithstanding his Peoples frowardness to give them what grace is necessary to bring them to Heaven but they must look to be cut short of that more grace which they otherwise might receive from him The Soul of a Christian who giveth himself too much liberty may be saved but it will be as through fire When David had fallen into those two great sins of Adultery and Murder I remember God sent Nathan to him with this Message 2. Sam. 12. 7 8. I anointed thee King over Israel and delivered thee out of the hands of Saul and I gave thee thy Masters Houses and thy Masters Wives into thy bosom and gave thee the House of Israel and Judah and if that had been too little I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things wherefore hast thou despised the Commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight c. God there aggrava●eth 〈…〉 not only from those mercies which he had already received from God but from that Love which was yet in his heart for him and his readiness to do much more for him than he had yet done Think when you have any temptations to sin against the Lord that you hear Christ saying to you I died upon the Cross for you I washed you in my Blood I have pardoned thy sins clothed thee with my Righteousness changed thy heart put my 〈◊〉 into thee and if that had been too little I was ready to do for thee such and such things to make for thee Borders of Gold and Studs of Silver and shouldst thou now favour thy lusts which are the Enemies of Christ shouldst thou now despise the Commandments of the Lord and do evil in his sight Let this ingage all of us to fulfil the Precept of the Apostle 2 ●et 1. 5. Giving all diligence To add to our faith