Selected quad for the lemma: knowledge_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
knowledge_n	jesus_n	patience_n	temperance_n	1,484	5	11.2902	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43607	Syntagma theologicum, or, A treatise wherein is concisely comprehended, the body of divinity, and the fundamentals of religion orderly discussed whereunto are added certain divine discourses, wherein are handled these following heads, viz. 1. The express character of Christ our redeemer, 2. Gloria in altissimis, or the angelical anthem, 3. The necessity of Christ's passion and resurrection, 4. The blessed ambassador, or, The best sent into the basest, 5. S. Paul's apology, 6. Holy fear, the fence of the soul, 7. Ordini quisque suo, or, The excellent order, 8. The royal remembrancer, or, Promises put in suit, 9. The watchman's watch-word, 10. Scala Jacobi, or, S. James his ladder, 11. Decus sanctorum, or, The saints dignity, 12. Warrantable separation, without breach of union / by Henry Hibbert ...	Hibbert, Henry, 1601 or 2-1678.; Hibbert, Henry, 1601 or 2-1678. Exercitationes theologiae.	1662 (1662)	Wing H1793; ESTC R2845	709,920	522

God David did run the pure path of Gods commandments and Christ did all things well We are to have respect to all the divine ordinances of the God of Truth that in none if it be possible we may be sound faulty Forsake evil and do good saith the Prophet and so the Lord shall crown our desires above what we are able to ask or think saith the Apostle Let your Covetousness be turned to Liberality that the Saints of God those of the houshold of faith may be the better for you Let your Ambition be turn'd to Humility that ye think not of your selves above that which is meet Let your Adulteries be turn'd to Chastity that your bodies may be fit temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in Let your Idolatries and Superstitions be turn'd to the zealous and Primitive service of God that God may dwell in the midst of you Let your Wantonness in attires and habits be turn'd to Gravity whereby the Heavenly graces of the Eternal Spirit may be enlarged in you and manifested by you as becometh Saints Let your hideous Blasphemies and horrid Oaths be turn'd to a reverent naming of the Lord that his Name may be hallowed by you In conclusion let all the Intemperance Prophaneness and Corruptions of our lives be turned to Holiness whereby all our actions may favour of grace goodness and obedience This obedience in actions whereby we glorifie God must be 1. Speedy 2. Cordial 3. Ever augmenting 4. Resolutely constant It must be speedy To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts Dilatory procrastinarions beget difficulties and augment our miseries Wherefore to keep a Field from overgrowing with weeds is to pluck them up in the Spring and to preserve ones Body from overcharging with diseases is to purge the bad humors betime Thus sin and disobedience must be nipped in the bud or else they bring forth much soure fruit of trouble and danger 'T is the Polititians observation That à parvis veniunt summa mala principiis The greatest evils have but small beginnings Our obedience must be cordial My son give me thy heart saith the Wise man saith the wiser God If obedience be wrung from us it is not acceptable A cheer 〈◊〉 giver obtains acceptation at Gods hands Abraham's obedience in offering to offen up his son Isaac upon Divine command was cordial So were Davids services being a man after Gods own heart Christs obedience was cordial both in fulfilling every tittle of the Law and suffering the punishment due to our sins So was Paul's when in his conversion he consulted not with flesh and blood but immediately obeyed the Heavenly vision Our obedience must be ever augmenting It is the genuine nature of true grace to be ever growing and of good Christians to grow in grace The perfection of obedience is not compassed in a moment which is but a point of time but by degrees and many previal dispositions Were it not that we are too much indulgent to our corrupt affections our obedience would never leave growing until by Divine assistance and pious endeavours we increase the quantity thereof I know the desire of enjoying the home-pleasures of this sinful life hath the more favorable audience and powerful perswasions in a mind captivated to his own passions and prevails more But where the heart is set at liberty from the bondage of sin there Piety beareth sway and obedience aboundeth Hence proceeds the Apostle's elegant Climax Add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7. Acti agamus and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity If these things be in yo● and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Our obedience must be resolutely constant With the Galatians to begin in the spirit and to end in the flesh is a deep apostacy from the truth of obedience and from obedience to the truth It is manifest cowardise in Souldiers to forsake their Colours when they are upon service Our whole life is no other than a continual warfare If our resolution be not fixt in our Christian enterprises if we fail after the military oath is solemnly taken by us in our Baptism in obeying the Captain of our salvation the Lord of Hosts we cannot avoid the bafest imputation of coward●se nor be accounted other than dastardly fugitives We know Satan and the World lay strong siege to take us and to draw us by head and shoulders from our obedience But we may learn from Job this point of valour that though God should kill us much less then if Satan should yet we should not upon any terms forsake him For the crown of life and diadem of glory Rev. 2.10 shall be given unto them alone that are faithful to the death Thus much concerning the honour of Obedience which this Glory in the Text imports Now follows the other honour imported by it which is the honour of Divine worship or adoration whereof there are two degrees 1. Internal 2. External The first is the internal affection or serviceable submission which is as the soul or life The other is the external note or sign of such submission as bowing kneeling supplication these are the body or material parts of it Now this worship when divine and opposed unto civil is proper unto God and incommunicable to any creature For the glorious prerogative of our Creation and Redemption in these works he admits no instrumental service much less can brook a Partner in the glory redounding to them My glory will I not give unto another Psal 95.6 In consideration of the works of Creation the Princely Prophet invites all to adore God O come let us worship and bow down and kneel before the Lord our Maker In consideration of our Redemption God speaking of Christ saith Let all the Angels of God worship him much more men Besides the seeds of grace and true religion are sown immediately by Gods sole powerful hand and their native off spring acts of faith especially must be reserved entire and untouch'd for him Prayers intrinsecally religious or devotions truly sacred are oblations which may not which cannot without open sacriledge be consecrated to any others honour but only to his who infuseth the spirit of prayer and thanksgiving into mens heares Bowing the body and kneeling as used to express a religious and divine worship must not be directed to honour them which are no gods but the Only wise and Immortal King Never had any man juster occasion to worship an Angel than S. John or a Saint than Cornelius and his company had The reason why the Lord in wisdom would have as well their willingness to worship as the Angel's and S. Peter's unwillingness to accept their proffered submission so expresly registred was to imprint the true meaning of that Law in

in us not for a time but for ever for the Word dwelling noteth a perpetuity and is opposed to sojourning And also that he hath the full disposition and absolute command of the heart as a man of that house whereof he is Lord. Which disposition consists in these six notable benefits which are sure evidences of the Spirits being and dwelling in our hearts every one whereof is worthy our serious speculation The first is the illumination of our understandings with a certain knowledge of our reconciliation to God in Christ Jesus This is obtained by the special information of the Spirit he shall teach you all things he shall guide you into all truth John 14.26 16.13 saith the Saviour of the world This knowledge is not of Generals but of particulars that God is our Father Christ our Redeemer the holy Ghost our Sanctifier the Spirit of God faith the Apostle Rom. 8.16 Beareth witnesse with our spirits that we are the sons of God Worketh in us a sure knowledge of the remission of our sinnes of our reconciliation and peace with God of our adoption into the liberty of the sons of God and faith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2.12 now have we received the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are given to us of God that is the righteousnesse of Christ assuredly It is not in man to know assuredly what great things God hath done for his soul without the special instruction of the Spirit called the Spirit of truth And the Spirit of wisdom and understanding Isa 11.2 the Spirit of knowledge The second benefit of the Spirit which discovers his being in our hearts is regeneration wherby our hearts are renewed by receiving newnesse of life and grace The coruptions of our nature are expell'd by the Spirits infusion of supernatural qualities into us whereby we are made new creatures and of the servants of sin and limbs of Satan are made the members of Christ and sons of God Hence he is called the Spirit of life Except a man be born again by water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of heaven saith our Saviour Ezek. 36.25 and Ezekiel doth Prophecy that God would sprinkle clean water upon them and they should be clean and from all their filthinesse would he cleanse them It is the Spirit that doth regenerate us who is here compared to clean water for these two causes 1. As water mollifies dry wood and puts sap into dry trees so doth the Spirit supple and mollifie our hard hearts and put sap of grace into them whereby we are made trees of righteousnesse and bring forth fruits of eternal life Christ saith John 7.38 39. that he that believeth in him as the Scripture saith out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water this saith the text spake he of the Spirit which they that believed on him should receive 2. As water doth purifie the body from all filth so doth the holy Ghost wash away our sins and our natural corruptions John 4.14 hence called a Well of living water springing up to everlasting life Again John the Baptist saith that Christ baptizeth with the holy Ghost and with fire where the Spirit is by consent of Interpreters compared to fire and that 1. As fire doth warm the body being benum'd with cold so doth the spirits our hearts frozen in sin and though dead in sins and trespasses yet by his reviving heat he quickens our hearts and brings us to life again 2. As fire doth purge and take out the dross from the good mettal so doth the holy Ghost separate and eat out the putrifying corruptions of sin out the canker'd and drossie heart of man And thus regeneration is wrought by the Spirit and therefore said to be born of God The third benefit of the Spirit in them to whom he is sent is an union or conjunction with Christ whereby we are made his members Hine baptismus dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 members of his body of his flesh and of his bones and partake of his benefits hereby his graces are in a plentiful manner and an abundant measure distill'd upon us which were in him above all measure hence it is compared to effusion Joel 2.1 John 3.24 I will pour out my Spirit hereby we know saith Saint John that we dwell in him and he in us because he hathi given us of his Spirit The Spirit is the bond of our conjunction descending from Christ the Head to all his members and begetting Faith that extraordinary vertue whereby Christ is apprehended and made our own by special application The fourth benefit whereby the Spirit is known to be sent of God into our hearts is the Spirits governing of our hearts For in whom he is be is Master ordering and disposing the understanding the will the memory the affections and all parts of the body according to his good pleasure for as many as are the sons of God Sam 8.14 Certum est nos facere quod sacimus sed illi 〈◊〉 ut faciamus are led by the Spirit The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord Psal 37.23 in token whereof they that are of the Spirit do savor the things of the Spirit Rom. 8.5 that is they affect and prosecute those things that are good And this called spiritual regiment it consists in two things 1. In repressing all evil motions arising either from within as from evil concupiscence corruption of our nature or from without us by the in●icement of the world or suggestion of Satan 2. In stirring up good affections and holy motions upon every occasion hereto belong those excellent titles given to the holy Ghost the Spirit of the Lord Isa 11.2 the Spirit of wisdom and understanding the Spirit of counsel and of strength the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord he hath these several attributes because he stirs up in the godly these good motions of wisdom of knowledge of strength of understanding of counsel and of fear of the Lord. In Galat. 5.22 the fruits of the Spirit are recorded there to to be love joy peace long-suffering gentlenesse goodnesse faith meeknesse temperance where oever these be the Author which is the holy Gost of necessity must be As for love whose object is God and man God for himself man for God it is a testimony of the Spirits presence in us and rule of us he is sent into our hearts saith Lombard when he is so in us as that he makes us to love God and our neighbour whereby we remain in God and God in us As for joy it is a main work of the Spirit making us to rejoyce for the good of others as for our selves whereas carnal men pine away and grieve expressively for others prosperity As for peace it is that concord which must be kept in an holy manner Immane verbum est ultio Senec. with all men

Conscientia non est contra scientiam sed cum scientia else it is a Chimera of mans own Origen Est correptor paedagogus animae Bernard Est inseparabilis gloria vel confusio uniuscujusque The Schoolmen say It is Applicatio scientiae ad factum seu faciendum Our late Writers Est practicus syllogismus hominem excusans aut accusans I conceive it may be thus defined Conscience is a function of the understanding whereby we apply the general knowledge that is in us to our particular thoughts words and actions For it is not a part of the Will but of the Understanding not of that which we call the orical but of that which is termed practical For as a dead man is no man but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So a dead Conscience is no Conscience but nomine tenus Therefore it is in work and action Whereupon the Schoolmen contend that it is neither habitus nor potentia but actus His whole work being to apply the general Knowledge engraven in us by the pen of Nature to our particular thoughts words and actions Bernard hath very well observed four sorts of Consciences Viz. A Conscience that is 1. Good but not quiet 2. Quiet but not good 3. Both good and quiet 4. Neither good nor quiet But Scripture makes mention of sundry sorts of Consciences Viz. There is an erring or blind Conscience Joh. 16.2 As was in them that thought they did God good service when they killed the children of God Such a conscience was in Paul before his conversion for the which he was grieved afterwards Hence it is safe to keep to this Conscience is regula regulata but the Word of God is regula regulans A sleeping Conscience A man knows the will of God yet his Conscience being asleep for a time he lies snorting in the bed of sin So did David in his sin of numbring the people 2 Sam. 24. but his conscience awoke at the length and his heart smote him for it A seared Conscience Such as was in them 1 Tim. 4.2 when men are past feeling and hardned in their sins They are so accustomed to such sins that custom becomes another nature they think those to be no sins These are in the ready way to hell An accusing Conscience Which will never suffer a man to be quiet day nor night This may prove a Tragedy both in the end and in the beginning too and it may end with a Comedy in Gods children It may lead some to hell and for others it may be the way to heaven Mordeat nunc ut moriatur An excusing and clearing Conscience When the books are cleared between God and us And as to this though all commanded duties be good things yet these cannot acquit our Consciences from sin but the onely way to come to a quiet and excusing Conscience is the application of Christs merits to our selves Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Rom. 5.1 A man sinneth against knowledge and conscience 1. Interpretative when he might know better 2. When he sinneth against the light of nature 3. Upon a doubting conscience It may be a sin for ought he knows 4. If formerly he knew it though now by error he is drawn aside 5. Especially when it is against checks of conscience either in omission or commission The event of such a one is either 1. He hath a brazen face upon sin as the Philistines when they said These are great gods let us fight more stoutly Or 1 Sam. 4. 2. There is excuse for it Or 3. They despair as Judas when he sought Hell with an halter He hath a good Conscience Qui habet in corde puritatem in ore veritatem in actione rectitudinem This is not amiss yet some think it expresseth not the power of a good Conscience Suspicion is an inseparable companion to an evil conscience But Recta conscientia dulcis nutricula vitae Herein do I exercise my self to have always a conscience void of offence Act. 24.16 toward God and toward man Of mans Genius The blind Painims held that Genius was the natural God or Angel of every thing place or person And that every man is born with two Genii the one whereof encourageth us to do well the other to do evil So that Genius is a God say they in whose government every man doth live so soon as he is born either because he takes care for our begetting or that he is ingendred with us or that he takes care of us when we are begotten So Genius à gignendo Alst quia in nobis tuitionem habet quamprimum simus geniti I take it to be the Spirit of man Nature it self or delectation moved by nature unde Genio indulgere to give himself to pleasure Or lastly by it I understand the natural inclination of men which God hath divided according to the different affairs of the world and varied them according to the variety of actions to be performed therein Which they who consider not rudely rushing upon professions and ways of life unequal to their natures dishonour not only themselves and their professions but pervert the harmony of the whole world For as there are many great Wits to be condemned who have neglected the increment of Arts and the sedulous pursuit of Knowledge so are there not a few very much to be pitied whose industry being not attended with natural parts they have sweat to little purpose and rolled the stone in vain Which chiefly proceedeth from natural incapacity and genial indisposition at least to those particulars whereunto they apply their endeavours And thus many men engage in undertakings for which their heads were never squared or timbred out Whereas if they went on according to Gods ordination and were every one imployed in points concordant to their natures Professional and Arts would rise up of themselves nor need we a lanthorn to find a man in Athens But want of giving heed unto this is one reason as is by some concluded why though Universities be full of Scholars they are oftentimes empty of Learning Ye know not what manner spirit ye are of Luk. 9.55 De Providentiâ Providentia latinè dicitur à videndo at Hebraicè ut Latinè vox à sensu ad intellectum transfertur Rivet It is continuata quaedam creatio Creation gives esse primè Providence esse porrò T. Hist f. 1390. GOD is said in Scripture to regard Three wayes Secundum 1. Cognitionem 2. Gratiam 3. Judiciuns Ipse quià in Coelo rerum Pelagóque geratur Et Tellure videt totum inquirit in orbem He seeth all things and yet is seen of none As it is said of the Turkish Sultan that he hath a window joining to the Divano where he may hear and see any thing and not be seen GOD is 1. Skilful in Dirigendo a perfect Master 2. Pitiful in Corrigendo Not breaking the bruised reed nor quenching the smoking

eo complacentiam ad redimendum reconciliandum genus humanum As the salt waters of the Sea when they are straitned thorow the earth they are sweet in the rivers so saith one the waters of Majesty and justice in God though terrible yet being strained and derived through Christ they are sweet and delightful In many things we offend all who then can be saved Our sins for number exceed the sands of the sea and the least sin is sufficient to throw us into hell without Christ But by Christ we are reconciled to the father and have peace with him Hence we may have a blessed calme lodged in our consciences as when Jonah was cast over board there followed a tranquility Let the meditation of this Eph. 4.32 cause a reconciliation amongst Christians forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake forgave you Consider 1. God himself offers reconciliation to us Jer. 3.1 and shall we be so hard-hearted as not to be reconciled one to another Let us be merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful 2. All we do is abominable in the sight of God without it Mat. 5.23 24. If thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother Thou shouldst have done it before yet better late than never First seek the Kingdome of God God should be first served yet he will have his own service to stay till thou beest reconciled to thy brother If I speake with the tongues of men and Augels if I come to Church and heare never so many sermons talk never so gloriously of Religion c. and dwel in hatred be not reconciled I am but a tinkling cymbal 1 Cor. 13.1 3. We can have no assurance of our reconciliation to God without it Mat. 18.35 As the King dealt with his servant so God will cast such into the Prison of hell for ever This should make us all to quake 4 We have no certainty of our lives This night may our souls be taken from us Jovinian the Emperour supped plentifully went to bed merrily yet was taken up dead in the morning And if death take us before we take one another by the hand as a token of hearty reconciliation what shall become of us We should not suffer the sun to go down upon our wrath Johannes Eleemosynarius Arch-Bishop of Alexandria Eph. 4.26 Soc est in occasu vir maximè honorande being angry in the day with Nicetus a Senator towards night sends this message to him My honourable brother the Sun is in setting let there be a setting of our anger too If we do it not within the compass of a day yet let us do it within the compass of our lives Aculeus apis not Ataleus serpentis Let not our anger be like the fire of the Temple that went not out day nor night Let us not say with Jonah I do well to be angry even unto death Cap. 3.9 Let our anger be the sting of a Bee that is soon gone not the sting of a Serpent that tarries long and it may be proves lethall Christ is a merciful and faithful High-Priest Hebr. 2.17 in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people He hath made peace through the blood of his Cross Colos 1.20 God hath reconciled us to himself by Jefus Christ 2 Cor. 5.18 19 20. and hath given to us the ministery of reconciliation viz. that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation We pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God If when we were enemies Rom. 5.10 we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Glorie to God in the Highest Luke 2.14 and on earth peace good will towards men General Calling It is the estate and condition of Christianity For herein we are called to the service of God in all parts of holiness with promise of eternal reward through the merits of Christ So it is termed because the means by which God worketh upon us ordinarily is his Word or the voice of his servants calling upon us for amendment And because through the mighty working of the Spirit of Christ the voice of Gods servants speaking out of the Word is directed unto us in particular with such power and life and our dead hearts are so revived that the doctrine is as if God did speak to us in particular we receiving the word of the Minister as the very voice or word of Christ Thus the dead hear the voice of the Son of God and live As also because God would hereby note unto us the easiness of the work he can do it with a word As he made the world and calleth up the generations of men as the Prophet sheaketh so can he in an instant with a word convert a sinner He said Let there be light and there was light So if he say Let there be 〈◊〉 grace there is presently true grace There is a twofold calling 1. External that general invitation which by the preaching of the Gospel is made unto men to invite them to come in unto Jesus Christ most in the world are thus called both good and bad 2. Internal when the Spirit of God accompanies the outward administration of the Word to call a man from ignorance to knowledge and from a state of nature to a state of grace So that the first is alone by the outward sound of the Word But the other not by the trumpet of the Word alone ringing in the ear but by the voice of the Spirit also perswading the heart and moving us to go to Christ Of this calling spake our Saviour Christ No man cometh to me Inanis est serm● docentis nisi intus sit qui docet except the Father draw him namely by his Spirit as well as by his Word Judas was called He was not a Professor alone but a Preacher of the Gospel Simon Magus was called he believed and was baptized Herod w●s called He heard John Baptist sweetly and did many things that he willed him Sundry at this day come to Church hear Sermons talk of Religion that do not answer Gods call Therefore let us intreat the Lord to call us effectually by his blessed Spirit out of our sins to holiness and newness of life If we be thus called we shall receive the eternal inheritance which Christ hath purchased for us Let us be suiters to God that he would make us partakers of this calling that makes an alteration of us 1 Cor. 6.9 11. If we were Idolaters as Manasseh to call us out of our superstition and idolatry If persecutors as Paul to call us out of our persecuting If we are Adulterers as David to call us out of our uncleanness If Drunkards out of our d●unkenness If

humour is childish enough in children worse in men and worst of all in Christians who are also the children of God There are two things which God will not bear in his viz. 1. When they grow wanton with a mercy 2. When they complain without a cross To complain under a crosse is to act below grace to complain of a crosse is to act against grace to complain beyond a cross is a defect of grace but to complain without a crosse is a defect in nature Irrational creatures will not complain when they have the conveniences of nature Great storms arise out of little gusts It is our wisest way to crush the very first insurrections of unruly passions to smother the smoke thereof which else with sume up into the head and gather into so thick a cloud as we shall soon lose the sight of our selves and what is best to be done Passions proceed from bad to worse like heavy bodies down sleep hills once in a motion move themselves and know no ground but the bottome Turk Hist fol. 423. Invalidum amne naturd qu●● rulum Senc● Mahomet the first Emperour of the Turks being wonderfully grieved with the dishonour and losse he had received at the last assault of Scodra in his choler and fran●ick rage most horribly blasphemed against God saying That it were enough for him to have care of heavenly things and not to crosse him in his wordly 〈◊〉 The foolishness of man perverteth his way and his heart fretteth againsh the Lord. Prov. 19.3 Doest thou well to be angry Jon. 3.4 These are 〈◊〉 complainers Jude 16. Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyd of the destroyer 1 Cor. 10.10 Temperance It is the modernation of lust and appetite in the use of the gifts and creat●●● of God The Jewes are said to be generally very temperate For their diet whether in obedience to the precepts of reason or the injunctions of Pars●mony 〈◊〉 they are very temperate seldom offending in ebriety or excesle of drink nor ●●●ing in gulosity or superfluity of meates In vit Juliani Tanta fuit Juliani temperentia ut ex virg nibus quae specios a sunt capta ut in Perside ubi faeminarum pulchritudo excellit nec contrectare aliquam voluit Alexandrum imitatus Ejecit tonsores coquos tanquam deliciarum intemperantia ministros Theatra ludos non curat similior detestanti eos ludos quàm spectanti Camd. 〈◊〉 Queen Elizabeth was so famous for this vertue that K. Edward ● called her by no other name than his swept Sister Temperance She did seldome eat but one sort of meat and rose ever with an appetite and lived about seventy yeares For the better practising of which vertue remember these four rules We must use moderation in meats and drinks This moderation is to eat and drink with perpetual abstinence And abstinence is to take less than that which nature desires and not more And that measure of meat and drink which serves to refresh nature and to make us fit for the service of God and man is allowed us of God and no more We must use moderation in our apparel And that is to apparel our selves according to our sex according to the received fashion of our Country according to our place and degree and according to our ability Here the common fault is to be out of all order for none almost know any measure We must use moderation in getting of goods And that is to rest content if we have food and raiment for our selves and them that belong unto us 1 Tim 6.8 Here is our flint We may not desire to be rich vers 9. The King himself must not multiply his gold and silver Deut. 17.17 And yet hath he more need of gold and silver than any private man There must be a moderation in the spending of our goods Contrary to the fashion of many that spend their substance in feasting and company and keep their wives and children bare at home Paul reasoned of Temperance One of the fruits of the Spirit is Temperance Adde to Knowledge Temperance Gluttony This sin is com mitted five wayes Praepruperè Lautè Nimis Ardenter Studiosè Plures crapula quàm gladius It is the bane of the body For many more perish by intemperance than by violence by surfeiting than by suffering Epicures are as desperate as Soldiers Meat kills as many as the Musket the Board as the Sword Life is a lamp and as a lamp is choaked with overmuch oil or a little fire extinguished with too much wood so natural heat is strangled in the body with immoderate eating Contrariwise Homini cibus utilissimus simplex It 's said of one Confecit tumulum in dentibus Tenuis mensa sanitatis mater saith Chrysostom But much meat much malady And it is the sepulchre of the soul Many a mans table is a snare to him whiles fulness breeds forgetfulness And that both of God and his works Isa 5.12 And of men and their miseries Amos 6.6 It 's storied of Epicurus That while he looked too much to his Palate he looked not at all to the Heavenly Palace Howbeit Aelian if he may be credited reports better of him And Tully saith Whatever his opinions were his life was temperate But what a Cormorant was Heliogabalus who was served at one supper with seven thousand fishes and five thousand fowls His thirst was unquenchable his appetite like the hill Aetna ever on fire after more Many live as if they were fruges consumere nati Horat. Epicuri de gre●e porci Idem whose Corps are so many Casks to hold or rather mar meat Like that famous Roman Parasite Offellius Bibulus of whom it is said Dum vixit aut bibit aut minxit Many walk Phil. 3.18 19. of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly Drunkenness Some could wish themselves Whales Ven●l-●oemones so as the Sea were strong liquor No glue like that of good fellowship Et gratiam conciliant potando Drunkenness is called good fellowship even as the Impious Pope was called Pius the Cruel Innocent and the fierce Clement Mergit mentem extrema potatio Senec. It is Voluntaria insania Aug. And for the body Ebrietas nequitia est quae te non sinet esse senem An intemperate man is one that like some candles sweals away his life Funde iterum Mantuan Eclog 9. potare semel gustare secundus Colluit os poius calefacta refrigerat ora Tertius arma siti bellumque indicere quartus Aggreditur quintus pugnat victoria sexti est Septimus triumphat Bacchus is usually painted by the Poets naked to shew that when a man is drunk Proverbium est in Sanhedrin intrat vinum exit arcanum Drus In vino veritas he reveals

some sort rest satisfied Had that Apostate Julian disburdened his soul of all praejudicate opinions had he pondered divine truths as was requisite had he look't into it as into the word of God he never had blasphemed it in saying Vidi legi contempsi I saw it read it contemned it to whom learned Basil modestly replied as Chamier that famous French-man reports out of history Vidisti legisti non intellexisti si intellexisses non contempsisses sawedst thou it readst thou it thou never understoodst it hadst thou understood it thou hadst never contemn'd it Of so great authority and so full of divine majesty are the Oracles of God as that in an understanding man they beget an awful reverence and mightily prevail for an obedient subscription with those that studiously look into it never man spake as Christ never man as God Now who those are that should diligently enquire after the will of God and look into the perfect Law of liberty is a point worthy our enquiring after None but such as exempt themselves from God exempt themselves from this task All are bound to it but who will observe it Minister and People as they combine to honour God so to know him and whom he hath sent Jesus Christ The Knowledge of whose will glides not into the soul of man by natural instinct or moral infusion but by the Spirit and the Word of truth the Spirit illuminating the Word informing our understanding In which word we that are Pastours of the flock of Christ above others must use assiduous scrutiny 't is our profession to know more than ordinary Act. 20.28 as appointed in an higher sphear to be Overseers of the Church of God Hence the Spirit terms the Prophets Seers because they saw the will of God which others also saw by them 1 Cor. 4.1 and the Apostles with their successours stewards of the mysteries of God and Embassadors for Christ to pray men in Christs stead to be reconciled to God 2 Cor. 5.20 En flexanimam suadae medullam whose knowledge by preaching must be diffused others must reap the benefit of our paines God makes us knowing men to make knowing men which many have taken on them to do but some neglect it some can but will not some will not because they cannot some cannot and yet presume As for them that can and will not I pity them they shall be beaten with many stripes as for them that will not because they cannot I slight them though richer than my selfe they are but dumb dogs as for them that cannot yet presume the world may jeere them they make the Pulpit undervalued But for Gods sake my brethren let us that can will and endeavor when we speak from the father of languages to deliver our embassage not in an ill one lest we expose our selves to a scornful censure nor in a too obscure and affected one labouring more for fine words than fit ones lest affecting the praise of humane eloquence we feed the people as Heliogabalus did his Parasites with painted dishes as those fed the eye not the body so the other tickle the eare but profit not the soul 'T is truth that one speakes there is a Magick in the tongue can charm the wild mans motions and though God hath chosen by weak things to confound the wise 1 Cor. 1.27 yet experience shews that in all times a washed language hath much prevailed The Scriptures are pen'd in a tongue of a deep expression in every word almost a Metaphor illustrating by some allusion How political is Moses how Philosophycal and Mathematical is Job how massy and sententious Solomon in his Proverbs how quaint and amorously affected in his Canticles how grave and solemn in his Ecclesiastes and how poetical and full of heavenly raptures is his father in his Psalmes Christs doctrine astonished the Jewes Paul pleaded at the barr in a transcendent straine of eloquence and in dispute was subtile In a word it suites not with the Majesty of so divine an Art as is that of winning soules to be presented in sordid rags but in a graceful trimme yet plain Confections that are cordial are not the worse but the better for being guilded Divinity as it must not lasciviate so being well ordered by significant words placed in a native decency angles the soul and lifts it up to heaven As Herod therefore bade the wise men diligently to search for the young child Jesus and when they had found him to bring him word that he might go and worship him also so I advise my brethren accurately to look into this perfect law of liberty and when they have found what there is hidden by constant preaching to divulge it By this means the perverse transgressor is called and converted and Gods pleasure before neglected is observed I repeat St Peters exhortation feed the flock of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tant●m ut nos pascat v●stiat not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind 1 Pet. 5.2 that every one of you may say with the Apostle of the Gentiles As much as in me lieth I am ready to preach the Gospel unto you Rom. 1.15 Quicquid in me situm est Promptum est Which done in sincerity not having an eye to the airy applause of men nor wordly commodity but to the glory of God immortal in the salvation of the souls of the hearers when the chief shepheard shall appear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye shall receive a Crown of glory that fadeth not away 1 Pet. 5.4 As for silent Ministers not silent by authority but through insufficiency I should wish them well did I wish they never had that calling unto which I dare say they were never truly called but compel'd by necessity on whom avarice laid on the supposedly holy hands By which disorder of ordering broken tradesmen and such of the giddy-headed multitude untuter'd in the Word of God who never knew other Art than how to deceive this holy function is prophaned the Church scandalized the well-deserving kept in penury ignorance gets head impiety propagates and the sheep of Christ with these Wolves in sheep-skins are pitifully worried This tends to verifying Winifrids Apothegme changing one word In old time there were golden Pastors and wooden Chalices but now golden Chalices and wooden Pastors as of old the Jewes had a royal Temple but a rascal Priesthood To redress this abuse the remedy lies in the Imposers hands would the reverend Fathers of the Church hold in their hands from imposition and Patrons theirs from Donation until merit claimed it Clerus Angliae stupor mundi these unworthy vermine would never appear and Churchmen would gain their ancient reputation I make bold therefore to report what an honourable person once writ to his most excellent Majesty of famous memory learned King James They must rather leave the Ark to shake as it