Selected quad for the lemma: knowledge_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
knowledge_n	know_v	nature_n	revelation_n	1,266	5	9.3823	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59876	A sermon preached at the funeral of the Reverend Benj. Calamy, D.D. and late minister of St. Lawrence Jewry, London, Jan. 7th, 1686 by William Sherlock ...	Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.	1686 (1686)	Wing S3347; ESTC R21708	14,846	42

A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL Of the Reverend Benj. Calamy D. D. And late Minister of St. LAWRENCE JEWRY London Jan. 7 th 1686. By WILLIAM SHERLOCK D. D. Master of the Temple And Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty LONDON Printed for John Amery at the Peacock and William Rogers at the Sun both against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1686. Imprimatur Jan. 11. 1685 6 C. Alston R. P. D. Hen. Episc. Lond. à sacris Domestics To his much Esteemed Friends the Church-Wardens and Parishoners of St. LAURENCE Jewry and St. MARY MAGDALANE Milkstreet Gentlemen THough I had no intention to make this Sermon Publick yet I could not with any Modesty deny your Request when you had paid so great a regard to the Counsel given you in it I heartily Congratulate your happy agreement in the Choice of so excellent a Person to succeed the not-to-be-forgotten Dr. CALAMY who I doubt not will deserve all that Honour and Kindness which it is so natural to you to show to your Ministers I here present you with the Sermon as it was Preached excepting some few things at the beginning which were left out in speaking to shorten it as much as I could without injuring the Sense I am sensible the Character falls very short of what our deceased Friend deserved but it is every Word true and I thought had been as inoffensive too as it is true and so I believe it will appear to wise and considering men and others may judge as they please If it will contribute any thing to make both Ministers and People more faithful in the discharge of their several Duties I have what I aimed at both in Preaching and Printing it especially if you please to accept of it as a Testimony of the sincere Respects of GENTLEMEN Your very Humble Servant WILL. SHERLOCK 24 Matth. 45 46. Who then is a Faithful and Wise servant whom his Lord hath made Ruler over his Houshold to give them meat in due season Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall finde so doing IN this and the fore-going Chapter our Saviour acquaints his Disciples with the Signs and Prognosticks of his coming which plainly have a double aspect both upon his coming to destroy Jerusalem and upon his coming to judge the World But the application he makes of it is of universal use Watch therefore for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come v. 42. which is excellent advice in what sense soever we understand the coming of our Lord for the coming of our Lord signifies his coming to take account of us and whether we apply this to the Hour of our Death or to the last Day of Judgment still it concerns us to watch that is to be always diligent and careful in doing our Duty and discharging that Trust which is committed to us that whenever our Lord comes we may give up our Accounts with joy The Words I have now read to you concern the Apostles of Christ and their Successors the Bishops and Pastors of the whurch who are as much obliged to this watchfulness as any other sort of persons because as they have a greater Trust so they have a greater Account to give This we learn from 12 Luke 42 43 v. where our Saviour having given that general advice to all his Disciples to watch for the coming of their Lord St. Peter particularly enquires how far he and the rest of the Apostles were concerned in it Lord speakest thou this parable unto us or even to all v. 41. To which our Saviour answers Who then is that faithful and wise steward whom his Lord shall make Ruler of his Houshold to give them their portion of meat in due season Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Wherein our Saviour does particularly apply that general Advice to his Apostles and their Successors his Servants Stewards and Ministers of the Gospel and indeed those particular expressions which are here used do sufficiently acquaint us to whom this Advice belongs We need not question who is here meant by the Lord which is the peculiar Title of Christ in the New Testament and it is as evident what this Houshold is which is the Church of Christ The House and Temple of the living God The Houshold of Faith The Houshold of God And Christ is said to be Faithful as a Son or Lord over his own House whose House are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of the hope firm unto the end in distinction from Moses who was Faithful as a Servant The Rulers of the Houshold or the Stewards in St. Luke are the Apostles Bishops Presbyters who are the Governours of the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Overseers the Ministers of Christ the Stewards of the Mysteries of God The Meat which they are to give in season is the Word of Life which with respect to the different degrees and perfection of Knowledge is compared to Milk and to strong Meat and therefore they are commanded to feed the Flock to preach the Word to be instant in season out of season to reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine This is sufficient to shew you that my Text does principally concern the Bishops and Ministers of the Church who are in an eminent manner the Servants of Christ in the Instruction and Government of his Church which is his House and in speaking to these words I shall observe this following method I. Consider the Duty of Gospel-Bishops and Pastors which is to Feed and to Govern the Houshold of Christ. II. The Qualifications of Gospel-Ministers which are Faithfulness and Prudence a Faithful and Wise servant III. The great rewards of such men Blessed is that servant I. The Duty of Gospel-Ministers whether Bishops or others and that consists of two parts 1. To Feed 2. To Govern the Houshold or Church of Christ. They are appointed Rulers of his Houshold to give them meat in due season I. To Feed the Flock of Christ. This command Christ gave to Peter and repeated it three times Simon son of Jonas lovest thou me more then these then feed my lambs feed my sheep Now to Feed signifies to instruct men in the Knowledge of Christ for Knowledge is the proper food and nourishment of the Soul by which it grows in Spiritual Wisdom and all Vertue and Goodness and is as necessary to our Spiritual Life as natural food is to the Life of our Bodies This is life eternal saith our Saviour to know Thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent For this reason our Saviour appointed Stewards and Dispensers of the Mysteries of his Kingdom whose whole business it should be to study the Divine Will themselves and to instruct others For this is a knowledge which must be taught Nature may instruct us in the Being of a God and the differences

between good and evil and the plain Rules of Morality but the Mysteries of the Kingdom the whole oeconomy of mans Salvation by Jesus Christ is to be known onely by Revelation Christ came down from Heaven to reveal this to us and he instructed his Apostles and his Apostles by their preaching and Writings instructed the Church and have left us a standing Rule of Faith and Manners but yet it is necessary that there should be some men peculiarly devoted to the Service of Religion the study of the Scriptures and the Work of the Ministry to instruct and teach those who have neither leisure nor opportunities for enquiry nor capacity to learn without a Guide which is the case of the generality of Christians especially since Religion has been clogged with such infinite Disputes and there has been so much art used to make the plainest truths difficult obscure and uncertain to corrupt the Christian Faith and to make it comply with mens sensual Lusts or secular Interests A Guide and Instructor is absolutely necessary when there are so many Turnings and Labyrinths wherein men may lose themselves and their way to Heaven But though there were no Disputes in Religion no difficulty in understanding it though all men were agreed about the way to Heaven though the meanest Christian understood the Mysteries of Christianity as well as the greatest Divine yet there would be constant need of a Spiritual Guide while men are apt to be unmindful of their Duty and careless in the practice of it The work of an Evangelical Pastor is not meerly to instruct the Ignorant but to exhort to reprove to admonish to watch over the Lives and Manners of Christians to make seasonable Applications to their Consciences to administer Comfort to afflicted Spirits to excite and quicken the slothful and to encourage the fearful and timerous and to assist and direct men in their Spiritual Warfare how to obtain a glorious victory over the World and the Flesh. This is to feed the Flock of Christ and to give them Meat in due season to instruct them in those things of which they are ignorant and to put them in mind of those things which they already know that their Faith may be turned into a principle of life and action and this heavenly Food may be digested into Bloud and Spirits to the edifying of the Body of Christ in all Christian Graces and Vertues 2. Another part of the Ministerial Office consists in Acts of Discipline and Government Christ has made these Ministers and Servants Rulers over his houshold No Society can be preserved without Order and Government which is as absolutely necessary in the Church as in the State Christ is the Head of the Church the Husband the Shepherd the Lord which are all names of Authority and Power and the Church is his Body his Spouse his Flock his Houshold and Family which are names of Subjection and denote a regular and orderly Society but Christ has now left this World and does not visibly appear among us to direct and govern the Affairs of his Church he is ascended into Heaven where he sits at the right hand of God and exerciseth an invisible Power and Providence for the defence and preservation of his Church on Earth He governs us by his Laws and by his Spirit and by his Ministers for when he ascended on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men And he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ Till we all come in the unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. When our Saviour was risen from the dead he tells his Disciples All power is given unto me both in Heaven and in Earth Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the World This is their Commission to preach the Gospel and to govern his Church which was not meerly a Personal Commission to the Apostles but extends to all their Successors as appears from Christ's promise to be with them in the discharge of his Ministerial Authority to the end of the World Thus St. John acquaints us that Christ after his Resurrection appeared to his Apostles when they were met together and said unto them Peace be unto you as my Father hath sent me so send I you And as he had said this he breathed on them and said unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost Whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained This invested them with Authority but then the actual communication of Power which especially at that time was necessary to the discharge of their Office was reserved for the descent of the Holy Ghost and therefore our Saviour commanded them Not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father that is the gift of the Holy Ghost For says he Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the Earth And accordingly we find that during the time of the Apostles the Supreme Authority of the Church was in their hands which they committed to their Successors and has ever since been exercised by Christian Bishops and Presbyters with regard to their different Order and Power But what is this Power which Christ hath given to his Ministers They have no Rods nor Axes as secular Princes have to compel men to the Faith of Christ and to force their obedience No this is contrary to the Genius and Spirit of Christianity If men will be Infidels if they will be wicked we cannot help it For though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal such as earthly Princes use but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Our Saviour in my Text acquaints us what this Power and Authority is he makes them Rulers over his Houshold to give them meat in due season This is the Authority Christ hath given to his Ministers to instruct to exhort to advise to admonish to reprove and that with sharpness too when there is occasion for it according to the power which the Lord hath given to edification and not to destruction as St. Paul speaks But what