Selected quad for the lemma: knowledge_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
knowledge_n	godliness_n	jesus_n	temperance_n	1,486	5	11.3009	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19551	A sermon of sanctification preached on the Act Sunday at Oxford, Iulie 12, 1607. By Richard Crakanthorp Doctor of Diuinity.	Crakanthorpe, Richard, 1567-1624.	1608 (1608)	STC 5982; ESTC S109018	32,903	41

suppose no man so blind as not to perceiue nor so maleuolous as with thanksgiuing not to acknowledge And for my owne part I suppose and dare confidently auerre that neuer was this Iland in any age so abundantly I say not furnished but euen blest and beautified not onely with the substance but with the ornaments also of all learning as in this our age and in the two most happy raignes of this and our late both most renowmed and incomparable Princes since those darke mistes of superstition and Idolatry haue beene dispelled and abandoned Now this I pray with the Apostle that yee may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all iudgement but my speciall prayer for you is the same which our Apostle heere vseth that both yee your selues and all your learning and studies may be sanctified vnto God That yee would ioyne as S. Peter exhorts with your knowledge temperance with temperance patience with patience godlinesse with godlinesse brotherly kindnesse with brotherly kindnesse loue for if yee doe these things yee shall neuer fall Esteeme all other k●●●ledge yea all things els whatsoeuer with the Apostle but as losse and dung for the excellent knowledge of Christ Iesus our Lord euen this practicke knowledge of which Saint Iohn testifieth He that saith he knowes him and keepes not his commandements is a lyar and the trueth is not in him and of which our Sauiour saith This is eternall life to know thee to be the onely very God and him whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ. And seeing sanctitie and holinesse is both the badge and cognizance of Gods children and seruants the end of their vocation and calling the onely meanes to make all other gifts of God to be true blessings vnto vs without which they are indeed blessings in themselues but to vs they shall be turned as the Prophet saith into cursings I conclude this my exhortation vnto you with those fewe but most effectuall words of the Apostle Follow peace with all men and holinesse without which no man shall see the Lord. And this be spoken of the first point namely the subiect of the Apostles praier which is sanctification and holinesse God sanctifie you The second point which I proposed was the author and worker of this sanctification and that is heere set downe to be God himselfe God sanctifie you for whence els can any sanctitie or holinesse proceed but onely from him who is first of himselfe and essentially holy yea as S. Austen shewes euen holinesse it selfe and therefore called the holy one of Israel of whom the Seraphins sing holie holie holie is the Lord of hosts and then is effectiuely holie as causing and working holinesse in others as himselfe doth often witnesse I the Lord doe sanctifie you whom the Apostle calles the Father of lights that is of all shining vertues and the spouse in the fourth of Canticles the fountaine of gardens because from him alone doth spring and issue all those odoriferous graces and gifts of pietie which are more pleasant vnto God then are all the beddes of of myrrhe and spices of whom S. Austen most truely saith Quantacunque bona quamuis magna quamuis minima esse non possunt nisi ab ●o a quo sunt omnia bona Euery good gift and euery perfect gift commeth from aboue euen from the father of light Now as God worketh in vs this sanctitie and holinesse so is he the onely worker and sole agent therein without any helpe furtherance or cooperation of our selues of our free will or of any power or facultie that is in man for the naturall man perceiues not the things that are of God neither can he for they are euen foolishnesse vnto him and the wisedome of the flesh is enmitie with God and of our selues we are not sufficient to thinke any thing that belongs to pietie and Gods seruice as S. Austen expounds it but all our sufficiencie is of God And most cleerely Philipp 2. It is God that worketh in vs both the will and the deed to which purpose S. Austen excellently saith in his Ench●●●●d L●urent 32. cap. Nolentem praeuenit vt velit volentem subsequitur ne frustra vel● God at the first by his preue●●ent grace doth worke this in vs to be willing and after with his subsequent grace he accompanies vs that being willing we should not will in vaine And againe in his booke De grat lib. arbitr and 17 chap. Vt velimus sine nobis operatur cum autem volumus sic volumus vt faciamus nobiscum cooperatur God without vs or any helpe or worke of ours doth make vs willing and he doth cooperate worke with vs when we are made willing It is most sure indeed as he saith that it is we that will when we are willing but it is he that makes vs to be willing of whō it is said The will is prepared of the Lord. Velle currere meum est sed ipsum meum sine dei semper a●xilio non orit meum saith S. Ierome ad C●esiph To will is mine to worke is mine but euen this that is mine without Gods speciall and continuall helpe cannot be mine All which S. Austen fully expresseth in the place before alledged Sine illo vel operante vt velimus vel cooperante cum volumus ad bona p●etati● opera nihil valemus Without Gods operation to make vs willing and cooperation when we are willing in the good actions of piety we are neither able nor willing to worke any thing This the Scripture further to declare teacheth vs that the vnregenerate man is dead in sinne and trespasses And most significantly is he said to be dead in sin for though it be most true that by the transgression and fall of Adam the naturall faculties of mans minde are not extinct nor abolished yet are they so exceedingly maimed and weakned thereby that they which were before naturales potentiae as the Logicians call them that is naturall powers and abilities are now by reason of that originall transgression of our nature become in man naturall impotencies and debilities And they which in the integritie of mans nature had strength and power both to will and to performe the works of pietie and grace are now in the infirmitie and corruption of the same nature disabled wholly to the works of grace and retaining onely an ability to the works of nature to all and euery action of piety and grace are as the Apostle after him S. Austen teacheth wholly dead and quite lost in this state no more able to will or mooue to any action of grace then is a dead man in nature able to will or mooue to any action of nature For which cause the Scripture calles our conuersion vnto God sometimes a resurrection from death sometimes a new creation in Christ but most vsually a new

ground of obedience though but in one point is indeed guiltie of all as being then ready vpon any occasion of his owne pleasure to take like allowance to himselfe in any part of the law as he hath alreadie done in that one And therefore God in his law requires an intire and totall obedience to be giuen to him Thou shalt loue the Lord with all thine heart and with all thy soule and with all thy strength Thou shalt obserue and doe all that I command thee Thou shalt not decline from any of the words which I command thee Let v● clense our selues from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit Cast away all your transgressions and iniquities for why wil yee die O yee house of I●rae● And to omit S. Austens comparison that euen one wound or disease if we neglect or refuse the cure thereof will endanger the whole body though the rest be ●ound or that one ch●nke if it be not preuented may endanger the whole shippe I rather propose that one but most effectuall testimonie of God Ezech. 18. If a father beget a sonne that is a theefe or a shedder of bloud 〈◊〉 he doe any one of these things though he doe not all these things but either hath eaten vpon the mountaines or defiled his neighbours wife or hath oppressed the poore and needy or hath spoiled by violence or hath lift vp his eies vnto Idols or hath giuen foorth vpon vsurie or hath taken encrease shall he liue He shall not liue but in the abominations that he hath done he shall die the death Consecrate therfore I beseech you your selues wholly vnto the Lord. Consecrate first as the Apostle heere teacheth your spirits and inmost affections vnto God for God loueth trueth in the inward parts And as he is a spirit so hee lookes to be serued first and chiefl● in spirit and in trueth Be thou vpright said God to Abraham before me that is not onely before men but in my sight who search the hearts and reines without this all externall and outward holinesse is but Pha●saicall ostentation and that outward clensing of the cups and painting the tombes which within are full of hypocrisie and iniquitie full of filthinesse and rottennesse against which our Sauiour hath denounced a woe in the Gospell Well may yee by this visor of sanctitie dazell and bleare the eies of men as the Poet signified Pulchra lauerna da mihi sallere d●●ustum 〈◊〉 evider● but neuer can yee deceiue the al-seeing eies of him who saith by the Prophets I know thy dwelling thy going out and thy comming in and againe Mine eies are vpon all thy waies they are not hid from my face neither is their iniquitie hid from mine eies of whom the Psalmist saith Thou art about my path and about my bed spiest out all my waies there is not a word in my toong but thou knowest it altogether yea thou vnderstandest my thoughts long before and of whom the Apostle saith All things are naked and open vnto his eies Let me then heere say vnto you as Dauid did vnto his sinne when drawing neere vnto his death he bequeathed this as a part of his last and best legacie vnto him Thou my sonne serue thou the Lord with a perfect heart and with a willing minde for the Lord searcheth all hearts and vnderstandeth all the imaginations of thoughts it thou thus seeke him he will be found of thee but if thou forsake him he wil cast thee off for euer Consecrate next your bodies vnto God that as the Apostle heere wishes your bodies may be kept holy and without blame I beseech you by the mercies of God saith the Apostle that yee giue vp your bodies a liuing sacrifice holy acceptable to God and aga●ne Giue your bodies not as seruants of iniquitie vnto sinne but as weapons of righteousnesse vnto God Know yee not that your bodies are the members of Christ and temples of the holy Ghost and yee are not your owne for yee are bought with a price glorifie therefore God both in your spirit and in your bodies for they both are Gods Consecrate lastly your externall and outward actions vnto God that yee may shew foorth the vertues of him that hath called you and that your liues being as lamps of pietie vnto others may shine foorth in good works which God hath ordained that we should walke in them If wee haue onely outward sanctity wee deceiue others if we haue onely inward sanctitie wee deceiue our selues for neuer is faith charitie or holinesse rooted in the heart but it buds foorth and shewes it selfe in the fruits of good works and of a godly life If these things saith S. Peter that is godlinesse temperance patience brotherly kindnesse and loue be in you they will make you that yee shall neither be idle nor vnfruitfull in the knowledge of Christ. In the 2. Corinth and 5. chap. S. Paul giues a reason why he tooke all that toile and labour in the Gospell and in gaining others vnto God and the reason is this the loue of Christ saith he constraineth vs. Doubtlesse where the true loue of God and Christ is in a mans heart it will euen constraine him to his duty and to obedience vnto God and will be like the fire in Ieremies bosome which could not be shut vp but made him wearie of forbearing that he could not staie Amor Dei saith S. Gregorie otio●us non est operatur magna si est si operari renuerit amor non est Where the loue of God is it is not idle but works greatly where it doth not work it is not There were some euen in the Apostles time as S. Austen shewes who boasting of their faith and yet liuing a most dissolute and wicked life did recken themselues as good Christians and as sure inheritors of Gods kingdome as the best Which most pernicious and pestilent heresie being first broched by that arch-heretike Simon Magus as Irene declares in his first booke and 20. chap. was afterwards embraced and maintained by the Eunomians who taught as S. Austen shewes in his 54. heresie Ad quod vult that if a man did beleeue their doctrine it skilled not how he liued neither how many sinnes hee committed nor how long hee perseuered therein To which heresie when some in S. Austens own time inclined he purposely writ against them his book De side operibus the summe and effect wherof is the very same which S. Iames in his epistle most effectually vrgeth What auaileth it my brethren though a man say he hath faith when he hath no works Can such a faith saue him And the Apostle answering that such is but a dead and euen a diabolicall faith in the end he vseth a most fit comparison to expresse the same that as the body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without breath for